Why can't we learn from past experience?

Thais suffer year after year from inadequate contingency planning to mitigate the effects of extreme weather and natural disasters

Everyone will have to be prepared for drought this year, which could hit the livelihood of several million farmers. The responsible agencies therefore must keep the public informed of the situation to make people more aware of the need to conserve water.

At the same time, the central government and agencies must lay down a long-term sustainable plan for water-resource management and drought prevention. Thailand is still an agriculture-based country, with millions of farmers relying on a consistent water supply to earn their living and feed the nation. At the same time, daily consumption of water by households is steadily increasing.

There is already evidence that the drought this year could be one of the worst ever, with low water levels in several dams in the Northeast. The Sirikit Dam is currently holding only 1,239 million cubic metres, just 18.60 per cent of its capacity. In the same period last year, the water level stood at 5,729 million cubic metres, or 60.24 per cent of capacity.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra recently warned that the drought conditions in many provinces could intensify in coming months. Unfortunately, the government's massive Bt350-billion water-management project, which is supposed to tackle flooding and drought issues, will not materialise anytime soon, despite it being initiated in the wake of the 2011 flood disaster. The government still seems inadequately prepared for extreme weather and natural disasters, in spite of earlier warnings about possible drought this year.

The government's rice price-pledging scheme has encouraged millions of farmers to plant extra crops in the off-season, hoping to cash in on the populist programme. Unfortunately, as the paddy starts to grow in the hot season, many of these farmers might be unable to harvest their extra crop because the water supply is insufficient.

The Irrigation Department has issued a warning to farmers, saying that they must limit the use of water for crops to save it for household consumption through the dry season. Farmers are advised not to plant rice off-season using the Lam Takhong, Lam Sae and Lam Mul Bon water sources, where levels could be too low to meet household demand during the hottest time of the year. At the same time, serious drought has extended to the North, particularly in provinces where off-season rice farming is common.

The government has to be prepared to declare some areas natural-disaster zones, and it must get its water-management policy in order and up and running, especially now that it has Bt350 billion in its purse.

Unfortunately, farmers and the public are still getting contradictory messages. The rice price-pledging scheme has exacerbated the drought situation because it encourages farmers to plant more rice and use more water, leading to a massive surplus of low-quality rice with higher production costs. Drought is an inevitable consequence.

The results are disheartening indeed. Dried-up rivers and parched, cracked earth are telling images in several rural provinces. Livestock farmers have to move their cattle to more remote areas to find grazing land because they can't get enough water to replenish grasslands. Some farmers have to sell their cattle cheaply because they are unable to feed them. Some are left with no choice, and end up selling their animals simply to cut their losses.

Drought this year should not have reached the severe level it has, since the government has had all the resources needed to avoid the problem. It has failed yet again to ease the effects of extreme weather and natural disaster due to inadequate preparation and conflicting policies. The lesson from the flood disaster two years ago has not been learned.

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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2013/03/27/why-cant-we-learn-from-past-experience/